The Bluecoat Hub was buzzing yesterday with the sound of red hot knitting needles as NICE09 and Purlesque joined forces to present a weekend of Nordic Knitting. The trees in the garden were covered in knitted decorations whilst inside Karl Geleff Christiansen from the Faroe Islands encouraged anyone and everyone to add a few stitches to the huge orbital knitted piece he is creating. I don’t know what the finished work will look like but it will certainly be heavy.
The event continues today (Sunday 29 November 2009 13-16.00)
A busy day today but in between taking the inaugural ride on the Liverpool ONE Wheel and attending the Go Penguin Party it was lovely to chill out in the hub at the Bluecoat . We arrived just as a Norwegian performer, Grethe Borsum, was about to start singing the poem Til Ungdommen (To the Youth) by Nordahl Grieg, then Bluecoat poet-in-residence, Nathan Jones, read his English ‘translated’ version. This was part of the NICE09 festival but also Grieg had a big influence on Malcolm Lowry so it links to the ‘Under the Volcano‘ exhibition which finishes here on Sunday.
Also as part of NICE09 there is a display of three Nordic artists in the Bluecoat Display Centre:
Merete Rasmussen – ceramicist (Denmark) www.mereterasmussen.com
Merete is Danish and moved to London in 2005. Scandinavian design has influenced my work; clean curves, sparse decoration, simplicity. The broad ceramics curriculum at Designskolen Kolding provided me with the ability to use different ceramic techniques as well as a strong understanding of form. Sculptural form is where my passion lies and is the area I wish to continue exploring.
Karin Eriksson -designer/maker (Sweden) www.karineriksson.se
Karin Eriksson is a Swedish based designer/maker of functional ceramics and one off interior pieces.Educated at the University of Uppsala and Stockholm in Sweden and at Central Saint Martins University of Art and Design in London, UK. Worked at Tullbergs advertising agency in Stockholm, set up as Karin Eriksson in London December 2000. Has since done design work for habitat, several collections for Karin Eriksson, private commissions and participated in exhibitions and trade fairs in the UK, US and Sweden.
Ninna Gotzsche – designer (Denmark) www.ninnag.com
Ninna is a ceramist primarly working with thrown porcelain, both as functional work and one off pieces. I am a member of the shop Nr. 4 in Aarhus, Denmark. Try having a look at news for upcoming exhibitions and find for galleries that stock my work.
The 2009 NICE festival launched at FACT last night with patron Mike McCartney and Director Ingi Thor Jonsson doing the welcomes and thank yous.
Should be a great fortnight of Nordic Arts with several films at FACT, literary events at the Bluecoat, theatre at Unity, Music at 3345 and the Masque and some beautiful ceramics at the Bluecoat Display centre. I’m also looking forward to seeing Nordic Knitting at the Bluecoat on Sat / Sun 28/29 November.
NICE 09 runs from 19 November to 3 December 2009 at various venues.
I’m delighted to see that there’s going to be an exhibition of works by the Swedish artist, Daniel Milton at CUC in November as part of NICE 09. I like his paintings.
NICE is a Nordic Art and Culture Festival taking place in the North West UK which aims to present the best in collaborative works between the UK and the Nordic countries. Participants are coming to Liverpool from Finland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the UK.
NICE Festival offers a programme of events between the 19th November to 3rd of December 2009 with satellite events happening throughout the year.
So there’s other exhibitions, music, film, literature etc. Looking forward to it.
You can read a more detailed preview by the excellent writer, David Lloyd on his blog which I recommend you subscribe to.
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